Sammath Godless Arrogance pro-tape release in USA

Furious melodic black metal band Sammath, who meld elegant melodies with unrelenting aggression in the style of Immortal Battles in the North, will release its most recent album Godless Arrogance on pro-tape in the USA through Sylvan Screams Analog. Starting next week, copies of this legendary black metal revivalist album will make their way into stores and mailboxes across the New World.

Comments Sammath mastermind Jan Kruitwagen: “Three months after the CD and vinyl release via Hammerheart and a few weeks after the European tape release, Sammath proudly anounces Godless Arrogance on tape in the USA via Sylvan Screams Analog.” For more information about Sammath, visit the Sammath website.

Sammath first battered its way into black metal with the 1999 album Strijd which immediately turned heads for its archly inhuman beauty and crashing violence. This album expanded upon demos from several years before which were slowly refined before release, leading to a fully mature first album, which Sammath followed with three more albums before perfecting the fusion of its progressive, melodic and primal aggressive elements in Godless Arrogance.

You might be right. I do catch some modern death metal riffage here and there along the lines of Portal and Impetuous Ritual. However where those band’s songs go nowhere and communicate nothing, Sammath are able to fit said riffs into a songs context and produce an overall meaning. I do believe Jan was partly influenced by Portal as he has been pictured with a Portal shirt on during a live performance at least once.

Well, he may just like the shirt! I like the Morbid Angel shirts for a bunch of shit releases but I own them. Similarly Jan and Portal? Or maybe he truly is – aesthetically for this album or actually musically in creating a chaotic but controllable yet modern sound – influenced by them.

More likely it seems to be that musicality is something that comes naturally to Sammath (listen to the melodies on Strid!) and isnt present in Portal (just one boring mess, you keep waiting for shit to happen but you just hear `interesting` tones and well… garbage).

Although all music is based on expectation, death metal is especially so because it involves (involved?) stitching together a lot of related short musical phrases (riffs) and so not only is expectation hightened and patient listening required, there is often massive change on a large scale creating a `revelatory` sensation; especially if the change makes sense and works with the dynamics such as to be perfectly placed.

Sammath does all of the above (sometimes very well, sometimes a little worse), Portal does none! It is hipster music for metalheads who wanna say `you call X great band/album extreme? Listen to this shit breh, lets blaze up and fuck dude *takes out buttplug*.

Portal also deliberately utilized producer Zev Deans to make their music video (he created the music video for a Liturgy song). This, in conjunction with the image they maintain, shows dishonesty. I believe this quote summarizes the legitimacy of Portal and other bands with a similar outlook:

“What bands like Deathspell Omega and Watain became famous for doing was a bastardization of what they sought to imitate. Few of the earlier black metal bands were theistically Satanic, it was primarily mythological and symbolic. The “orthodox black metal” preachers took a metaphor and took it literally. They disconnected the outward image from the motivations: that image was their motivation.”

The (nu-grindcore-ish) vocals are a turnoff in this. Just screaming on top of the music, no calculation, he just sounds (miserably) angry and constipated.
Am I missing something? Frankly, I haven’t given it many listens.
I do like the music, though.

I also thought the singing was a tad overdone, however I dont see an issue in its… theatricality (what you call calculation) etc. It is a miserably angry album. I think that is where it manages to succeed even in 2014. The DLA review is clearer but my personal view on the vocals is they are no worse than say, Drogehda and fit music that is well, extreme even for extreme metal.

This album is relentless, relentlessly good. I am glad you at least appreciate the music. Vocals can be such a matter of personal preference and taste that establishing some objective(ish) standard is impossible and undesired. Some people cant stand diaphragmatic growls, some people cant stand throaty screeches, but if you like the music it will always at least be tolerable and as you grow used to it, sounding familiar and proper.

“Sammath are able to fit said riffs into a songs context and produce an overall meaning”.

What is the overall meaning, in your view? I get the ‘songs context’ part of the statement though.

Personally I’m all for comparing it to stuff like Niden Div.187, 1349, Belphegor, some Immortal etc. Comparing it to Portal seems a bit redundant. It’s a little like comparing Cultes Des Ghoules to Pestilence, or Nunslaughter with Suffocation. Completely different in terms of execution and intent.

Anyway, Godless Arrogance is a fine example of its particular strain of metal, if not necessarily one of the very best (for me Pure Holocaust being the very pinnacle of this expression of metal). I think that status can only be confirmed by repeated listens and the passage of time.

You know, thinking about it, this is an interesting and very accurate comparison: Pure Holocaust. That album however is straight progressive black metal with death metal technique and touches. The Sammath album is almost totally death metal riffage in parts. While you may be right that the Immortal album is the pinnacle of this style, I believe Sammath to be superior as far as violent extremity is concerned.

As always, repeated listens are the only answer. Maybe I will grow bored, maybe you will, but for me the album has lasted till now and despite its extremity I am able to tolerate it (if you can get through Forest Poetry you can get through anything lol).

I never compared Sammath to Portal. Well at least I hoped it wouldn’t come across that way. A few riffs are clearly in my view, Portal inspired (or any of few more Profound Lore Rec’s roster bands). But these riffs are few and far between on this album. When these riffs pop up, they do not veer the song off onto a path to modern day hipster garbage. It’s all about how these riffs are integrated into the song.

Well my original comment wasn’t aimed at specifically you either EDS! Ah well no problem.

Anyway. For me Portal belong in a different part of the metal landscape to Sammath – they are a blend of elements of metal, noise and drone. Whipped into a kind of heady Lovecraftian Grand-Guignol. I enjoy them (there, I said it) for what they are rather than what they are not. Sammath are all black/death metal and I enjoy them for slightly different reasons – blasting triumphant war metal. I’m cycling through Strijd, Dodengang and Godless Arrogance to see how they have developed in that time, whether I can detect an integration of modern techniques. To their credit they still sound defiantly like Sammath. I give credit to any band that maintain their identity in the overcrowded world of metal these days – which is why Portal (especially the first two records) interest me.

The comment regarding integration of the occasional ‘Portal style’ element is interesting, because for the most part the hipster trashing point scorer likes to shriek out how Portal are just ripping off Immolation et al. So I am interested in this ‘modern death metal’ element – does it refer to the droning, heavy string bending, the tuning?

*Just to prevent any knicker-wetting I am not calling anyone here a ‘hipster trashing point scorer’ – I would never besmirch anyone’s good name like that. But these people are out there…

Hahah .. what about that dude with the neatly trimmed goatie, sunglasses and patchless leather jacket ? Ironically my girlfriend has no idea about metal and isn’t into it at all (wouldn’t really want her to be either), but she’s always able to tell a shitty, false band apart from what we might call a ‘true’ one. She’ll often pitch in with “Ahh.. that’s terrible, can you turn that rubbish off…?” whereas classic metal hall of fame stuff she makes no comment. Indeed, a rather remarkable quality I like to think of as ‘getting it’ (whether you’re into it or not). But yeah, honesty’s gooood!

The first thing I thought about is the chick, because I just happen to look at chicks and judge their attractiveness first. Not into it.

I’ve been with my lady for over four years now and she has slowly been picking up on some metal that I dig. She is still into entry-level stuff as far as I’m concerned; likes Cryptopsy “None So Vile”, death “spritual healing”, and Ulver “Madrigal of the Night” and then some k-pop and other random shit that she used to listen to with her friends or whatever. I give her the benefit of the doubt and act like her shitty musical taste is mostly due to lack of experience and exposure. Outsiders all rwact differently to metal, and you have to be especially careful when introducing the music to girlfriends, na’mean?

Read your forum PMs mate, I have been trying to get you to see something for ages now. You should be able to se em on the dead last account even if only Audiofile is accessible. Trust me you will like this stuff, its… uncommon but not so avantgarde as to offend sensibilities.

Almost all women just listen to what is socially in, Top 40 music basically. Even metalhead girls will, like your example, k-pop it up. Dont wanna get too personal, I am not your dad bro, but son it aint gonna work. If it does get back to me so I may revise my opinions.

I managed to get my sister in Falconer first album, but its close to pop music in a way so yeah…

(Attention: This is riffing from the veien comment and not necessarily a response.)

Metalhead dating would be Tumblr chicks desperate for nerd attention. Basically the same as gurrll gamers except that they may own a few metal records (though they dont listen to them).

The exceptions, metalheads who are females, are generally maladjusted, slightly weird people too. The issues there are:

1) Ugliness
2) Dumb ideas about metal (women tend to be very scene-y)
3) Ugliness
4) Intelligence: This is not necessarily negative but can lead to arguments of a most unpleasant kind. Women are always women and think like women. They have no honour and will do or say anything to say, win an argument. Intelligence only lets them do this better
5) Only the most truly desperate of nerds with no social contact with normal people want women who are male versions of them.

Rare exceptions may exist. I mean who knows, McEntee is cool enough to get with a lot of chicks, metal or not. Jill may not be a supermodel, but she looks like a fine person and Funerus is at least not terribly terrible. Still, men, do not fall for women who will only annoy you eventually. I have no personal experience in this particular matter (praise Allah), but I have seen friends do dumb things for undeserving women and not even for sex. Just for having a girlfriend. Masculine insecurity is a pathetic thing to see :(

Yes but even so, they’re just generalizations. Taken for what they are, they work. You can take em or leave em. Anyway, it doesn’t bother me not to agree (even though I do, completely, in this case). But also, hypothetically if someone bashes someone I don’t like, is it not wrong to deny myself that bit of pleasure or emotional fuzziness that endures, just knowing that all things find their way in the world? I mean, who are we to discriminate, after all?

You should chill when you read that post my friend BB, then it wont sound like Rodger. Maybe if that man knew these things he would not have done the stupid things he did.

There is nothing wrong with generalizations, they are a useful tool. Nevertheless, women do not have honour. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just female psychology. It is not an expression of inferiority, but an expression of difference; however metal chicks do tend to be damaged, inferior women.

As always, exceptions exist. Like I said before, that is the nature of a generalization, veien explains it well as well.

You are correct. Funny you mention girls who play video games because, even if they’re good at them, it’s not for fun. It’s a mechanical process learned to seek attention from males in a subtly conniving way.

What a laughable and useless concept by the way. Stalin thought he had honor. Hitler thought had “Ehre”. George W. Bush thinks he has honor. Obama thinks he has honor. Osama thought he had honor. Angela Merkel thinks she has honor. Marie Le Pen thinks she has honor. Gaddafi thought he had honor. Macklemore thinks he has honor. Sarah Palin thinks she has honor. Beyonce thinks she has honor. Varg thinks he has honor. Barney Greenway thinks he has honor. Rob Halford thinks he has honor. Hunter H. Hendrix thinks he has honor. Elliot Rodger thought he had honor. Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I’m a nihilist and spit on whatever I don’t like. I also don’t cling to ideas of what I am or am not, nihilist or not I more just ‘go with it’ intuitively. Who gives a fuck anyway, not me (well I do sometimes). But even in Real-Life, if I see an honest, decent person getting picked on, I’ll get in there raise hell just to help whereas if a scum gets attacked then I don’t interfere. But perhaps, what you see as ‘honest’, ‘decent’ or ‘honourable’ are just concepts that don’t work for you or that you inherently don’t like the idea of. To me I believe they are the right way to be so if my behaviour doesn’t match up with it I’ll make it so. Would you get upset in a given situation to defend the rights of paedophiles for example?

I tend to not invest too much negative energy in anything, including active not liking things or spiting. Live and let live. K-pop brings happiness and/or distraction for millions, good for them.

I guess what I did there was get in to help set straight some rather boyish blanket statement on women. The “manliness” in metal mostly seems to be just that: boyish… Dreams of being the unacknowledged son of the king, identifying with people on record covers holding large swords, circle jerks about elitist honor, etc. Just as well escapism as K-pop.

Defend the rights of paedophiles? Depends on what these “rights” would be.

yes of course, but there is a big difference between claiming manliness while being a boy in secret and the manlinessclaims some metalheads make. it’s ironic, and it makes all this talk about manly Vir on these sites kinda “relative”, that’s all.

BB if you are a nihilist then why are you ascribing so much social value to my words? Not looking for an argument, legitimate question. I love and respect women, but that requires knowing their flaws as well as their strengths.

Men can be overanalytical, overliteral and (to balance it out) keep secrets (or be thought of as weaklings). For women it is no problem to gossip about almost anything in their circle, things men would never even consider. They will try to (or rationalize it as) do it for the benefit of whoever if they are nice people. This is not a criticism, it is an example of `honourless` female behaviour that is nonetheless cute and normal.

The modern world has made too many young men think that women are male versions of them. That is what leads to Rodgers (eventually).

I don’t think I ascribe so much social value to your words, as simply not agree with them. I think the concept of honor is useless, and I think your generalizations about women and men are not grounded in reality and stem from socially transfered prejudices and myopia viz. this subject, that’s all.

I am not saying that men and women are equal in all respects, since obviously of course they are so, e.g. not on a physical level, but making general binary claims (women gossip, men don’t) about all individuals and groups on all of this this planet’s regions doesn’t get you anywhere in understanding the complex murkiness of reality. Especially not if they also take the form of hypotheticals: “men can be over analytical”, well, of course they can, as can women.

I know a lot of men who will and do gossip about almost anything in their circle. There is nothing ‘honourless’ about this, it is normal social behavior, also observed in more or less similar forms with other primate species. Gossip has important social functions: it bonds and it teaches. What is your beef with it?

Gossip (“idle talk”) reinforces the solipsistic neurotic stage-plays that women (and men, of course, god forbid they are left out) engage in at the cost of recognizing the motion of the world around them. This is not an honorable use of time. Not that I am casting judgments beyond the obvious (as I spend my time very dishonorably and quite enjoy it).

This is an observation grounded in reality. Of course you can consider where I live, my age, my income, my hobbies, my social group, or whatever you want, and try to imagine that my experience only reflects that of a minority. That won’t work; I’ve tried.

This seems to just be a disagreement about a generalization taken as applying to every individual. At least to me.

Women cannot be overanalytical unless they are abnormal. That is I mean, outside my generalization. Whatever disagreements we have, lets leave them be, just understand that I have nothing against women. I love them for their differences (as men used to and still do) and their similarities.

I think it is time to let this go though, either you will see it my way in time, or I will see it in your way. There is no further need to recourse to logic. Internet comments can sound different from their actual intent, if the above sounds passive-aggressive, it is not.